Desolation Canyon is one of the West's wild treasures. Visitors come to study, explore, run the river, and hike a canyon that is deeper at its deepest than the Grand Canyon, better preserved than most of the Colorado River system, and full of eye-catching geology-castellated ridges, dramatic walls, slickrock formations, and lovely beaches. Rafting the river, one may see wild horses, blue herons, bighorn sheep, and possibly a black bear. Signs of previous people include the newsworthy, well...

The authors recount twelve millennia of history along the lower San Juan River, much of it the story of mostly unsuccessful human attempts to make a living from the river's arid and fickle environment. From the Anasazi to government dam builders, from Navajo to Mormon herders and farmers, from scientific explorers to busted miners, the San Juan has attracted more attention and fueled more hopes than such a remote, unpromising, and muddy stream would seem to merit.

**The “engaging” (New Yorker), New York Times best-selling story of how coyotes took over North America—and are now taking over South America as wellFinalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award"A masterly synthesis of scientific research and personal observation."—Wall Street Journal**Legends don’t come close to capturing the incredible survival story of the coyote. In the face of centuries of annihilation campa...

From the author of How the World Moves: A revelatory new look at the hallowed, diverse, and threatened landscapes of the American IndianFor thousands of years , Native Americans have told stories about the powers of revered landscapes and sought spiritual direction at mysterious places in their homelands. In this important book, respected scholar and anthropologist Peter Nabokov writes of a wide range of sacred places in Native America. From the “high coun...

A New York Times Notable Book of the YearWinner of the Mountains and Plains Book Seller's Association Award"Sprawling in scope. . . . Mr. Egan uses the past powerfully to explain and give dimension to the present." --The New York Times"Fine reportage . . . honed and polished until it reads more like literature than journalism." --Los Angeles Times"They have tried to tame it, shave it, fence it, cut it, dam it, drain it, nuke it, po...

The Destruction of the Bison, first published in 2000, explains the decline of the North American bison population from an estimated 30 million in 1800 to fewer than a thousand a century later. In this wide-ranging, interdisciplinary study, Andrew C. Isenberg argues that the cultural and ecological encounter between Native Americans and Euroamericans in the Great Plains was the central cause of the near-extinction of the bison. Cultural and ecological interactions created new types of biso...

The tragic saga of the Donner Party has inspired both legend and scholarship ever since the survivors were rescued from the High Sierra snows in the spring of 1847. When archaeologist Donald L. Hardesty and four colleagues—a historian and three other archaeologists—turned their collective attention to the ordeal of the Donner Party, the result was an original and sometimes surprising new study of this pioneer group and their place in the history of overland migration. Now available for the...

By studying the many ways diverse peoples have changed, shaped, and conserved the natural world over time, environmental historians provide insight into humanity's unique relationship with nature and, more importantly, are better able to understand the origins of our current environmental crisis. Beginning with the precolonial land-use practice of Native Americans and concluding with our twenty-first century concerns over our global ecological crisis, American Environmental History

This pioneering work focuses on excavations and discoveries at Little Rapids, a 19th-century Eastern Dakota planting village near present-day Minneapolis.

The series will highlight the fact that prairie dogs are similar to people in many ways and will use funny pictures, with playful captions and humorous parody to broaden the conversation and reach a more general and varied audience. The books will also include the “serious” message that prairie dogs are in peril in the wild, dispel myths with facts, provide content from wildlife biologists, provide a list of important resources and give a call-to-action request. If you like tongue-in-cheek...

Teddy Roosevelt called it "the one place every American should see." Award-winning author Stewart Aitchison's brilliant writing reveals The Canyon in all its splendor: from the rims to river level. Explore the park through Stewart's writing or plan your own visit with the invaluable information available in this extraordinary publication.

The nine Native tribes of Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula—the Hoh, Skokomish, Squaxin Island, Lower Elwha Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Quinault, Quileute, and Makah—share complex histories of trade, religion, warfare, and kinship, as well as reverence for the teaching of elders. However, each indigenous nation’s relationship to the Olympic Peninsula is unique. Native Peoples of the Olympic Peninsula: Who We Are traces the nine tribes’ common history an...